A statue of a girl symbolizing the victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II will be unveiled at Seocho High School in Seoul on Thursday.

A group of high school students erected the statue in the school compound Wednesday in a bid to raise awareness about Japanese imperialism.

“On entering the school, you can see we have installed a camera to monitor Dokdo in real time and picture. The statue of the girl is another effort to help form a correct view of history,” said Lee Dae-young, the school principal.

The unveiling ceremony was delayed two weeks due to a copyright dispute involving the monument’s design. Fifteen students had worked to redesign the statue since Aug. 12 when the maker of the original statute pointed out the copyright issue. The original statute is in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

Gestures to honor the so-called comfort women have recently been made in other countries. “Statue of a Girl of Peace” was installed in Glendale, California, on July 23 to honor the former sexual slaves despite protest from Japan and Japanese-Americans.

On Monday, a Korean-American group in Bergen County, New Jersey, held the “Comfort Women Memorial Peace Marathon” to urge the Japanese government to sincerely apologize for its past war crimes.

By Yoon Ha-Youn, Intern reporter
(yhayoun@heraldcorp.com)